In tonight's episode we got an emotionally draining confrontation between Cain and his chosen successor, Dean, that ranks up there as one of the best showdowns in Supernatural history. But we also got several episodes worth of story crammed into 42 minutes because the preceding 13 episodes were so unfocused.

What elevated tonight’s episode of Supernatural was its commitment to social commentary, something this show has done very well over the years, and the targets in “Halt and Catch Fire” were multiple – college students, Greek life, and, most noticeably, tech-obsessed youth.

"About a Boy" dealt with the season’s mythology only briefly but had enough winning ingredients to rise above the problems that plague over throwaway episodes. You had a new twist on a familiar story and plenty of humor sprinkled throughout.

When Claire was taken off the board last week, Supernatural suddenly had an opening for its token female character. The show wasted little time in filling that void as Charlie returned from Oz in more ways than one. Or, should I say, more bodies than one.

On the same night that President Obama delivered the State of the Union, Supernatural fans got a reassuring update on the status of Season 10 during “The Hunter Games.” Sam and Dean returned in a tight hour of storytelling that utilized the show’s best characters in refreshing ways.

Supernatural’s midseason finale was a microcosm of Season 10 to this point. The episode started slow and gradually built to a simmering conclusion. No big shocks or “Apocalypse take 3” this time. Just a smaller scale, more intimate storyline that reunited Castiel with the Winchesters and set the stage for what’s to come with Dean’s slow descent into madness.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on The Flash recently, you may already know that tonight’s midseason finale will be extra special. The CW agreed to allow the episode to run for two minutes extra in order to help The Flash achieve the exact vision the show wanted for the winter finale.

“Hibbing 911” was a standard episode of Supernatural that benefited from a strong female dynamic not often seen on the show. Sheriffs Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum returned this hour to help take down a pack of hippie vampires and more!

Supernatural is getting a bit slow in its old age. It might have taken seven episodes, but we finally got the setup for Season 10 that usually happens in the first couple episodes of a new season. Introduce yourself to this season's big bad.

Tonight’s 200th episode was a fun celebration of the Winchesters and all the wonderful quirks that make their world fresh and exciting after all this time. “Fan Fiction” was fan service in a way that’s probably never been done on a show before. While not its finest meta hour nor its first jab at the Supernatural fandom, this episode had enough charm to make up for its lackluster story.

It’s harsh to say that “Paper Moon” murdered the momentum of this season. But when you look at what the first three episodes of Season 10 gave us with Demon Dean, a new threat in the form of a mysterious lady, and Metatron lurking on the periphery, “Paper Moon” deserves that unfortunate distinction.

If all good things must come to an end, I’m sad it only took Supernatural three episodes to conclude its best storyline in quite some time. “Soul Survivor” brought the Deanmon arc to a satisfying and abrupt conclusion.

Regardless of how you felt about Deanmon’s debut last week, there’s no arguing after “Reichenbach” that Jensen Ackles is nailing this demonic side of Dean. Supernatural needed a shakeup headed into its tenth season and the writers have struck gold by turning the eldest Winchester into a black-eyed monster.

Series hitting their tenth season tend to either be news-related or animated, but The CW’s Supernatural is seemingly as strong as ever, kicking things off this past week with a premiere that took the characters in a completely different direction from where they were. But in case you aren’t yet caught up on the ghastly adventures of Sam and Dean, now's your chance.

Supernatural kicked off its tenth season with a six-week time jump and an intimate story that moved last season’s cliffhanger forward in a compelling way while failing to launch any big storylines. This was new territory for a show that religiously uses premieres to show the audience a glimpse of where they’re going in the episodes to come. What we found in “Black” was our favorite characters in vastly different places than where we left them.